It was Sunday February 1, 2015 and it had finally set in that I was leaving the following morning on an adventure to meet with 15 child care centers, in five cities, in eight days. I was exited to learn the daily struggles of day care centers across the country firsthand - from failed child care management software programs to the hopes and dreams of ideas for features to take back to our development team. It was now time for my team and I to share SmartCare with the world.

I was a little nervous for my first few meetings… Would they like us? What kind of questions would they ask? My nerves quickly faded away as each center welcomed me with open arms! After completing my first round of visits, I had come to the conclusion that ProCare and EZ-Care, which have been around for years, has fallen short when it comes to providing a full-service and user-friendly child care management software platform. Most of my centers were using multiple programs as well as homemade solutions to help mange their centers. This meant countless double entries and thousands of dollars spent on solutions that just weren’t cutting it. At the end of it all, I was further assured that SmartCare was on the right path with our mobile platform that allows teachers, directors, and owners to focus on the bigger picture: the children.

Now that we are planning second visits to my centers, I am already brainstorming follow-up questions for them: “What do you like best about the app right now?” and “What features do you love/ hate?” I have reported the feedback from my first few visits back to our team, and some of the great ideas are already being implemented in our next version of the software! I can’t wait to see what other great ideas come from my next 15 visits!